Master Of All Remote Controls

I have been a fan of the Logitech remote controls for years. 7 years ago when we moved into our current house I had quite some challanges with regards to my audio and visual connectivity. By that time LCD TV’s with multiple HDMI connectors were rare and I had quite a number of devices I wanted to connect. Furthermore I wanted to have all devices and remote controls out of my view. The hardware that I had to connect:

LCD TV

Home cinema set

HDMI switch

Mediaplayer

Set-top-box

The Logitech Harmony 895 was the remote control that met all my requirements. Ability to both send IR and RF signals, put all my stuff in a closet and programmable so with one push on a button all the devices were configured right. No need to handle all different remote controls. Until several weeks ago the Harmony was operating very well but after 7 years of duty it appeared that it was at the end of it’s lifecycle. Buttons were less responsive and the battery life of the rechargeable decreased dramatically.

Chromecast: New Kid On The Block

Recently I changed something in my A/V set-up. I disconnected my Xtreamer mediaplayer and the Network Attached Storage with 2TB. Unused for many years having no time to search and download for movies anymore. With not being a huge movie fan we didn’t miss it at all. But with the recently announced Chromecast of Google and Netflix entering The Netherlands a couple of user experience things improved dramatically that made me reconsider doing something with movies. With a retail price of USD 35 the Chromecast is a dongle that you potentially install in every room of your household. Something you won’t do with a Apple TV or Google TV. Too much hassle and too expensive. Chromecast is awesome. Only one hurdle: it’s a HDMI dongle, but connecting to my HDMI switch that divides video and audio, I was only able to view but hear nothing. So I needed an additional HDMI splitter. This one costed met USD 75 but anyway, I wanted to get the thing up anf running.

Harmony Smart Control set

Chromecast HDMI dongle

HDMI splitter

Harmony Smart Control

You should be able to control all your stuff with your mobile and tablet. Not the standard IR apps but something as comprehensive as the Harmony 895. I found the solution pretty quickly, Logitech themselves just released their Smart Control. Working in multiple ways, with the sleek remote control included or via the free app for iPhone or Android. Operation is great but most of all I liked the onboarding process how we would call this in our cloud and saas business. With my tablet I was able to configure the Smart Control through a BlueTooth connection. All my existing settings of my old Harmony 895 were imported automatically via the internet and my Logitech account. And voila, the thing was working immidiately. Really amazing how they figured this out. Which makes me again a fan of Logitech’s remote control system after concluding my 1st lifecycle of 7 years. How the world looks like in 2020 I don’t now but I am pretty sure Logitech will have some need products by that time!

Hi, my name is Mark Appel (46), family man, modern marketing professional and amateur triathlete. Almost active for 25 years in the IT industry. Worked for companies like Apple, 3Com, Peregrine, Twinfield and currently as a global marketing director for Exact Software. I like to write about my experiences and views on the cloud, marketing and the IT industry in general. All posts are on my personal behalf.